Safety
by marianne in chains
Summary: AU. Safety makes you vulnerable. When Kaworu kills Shinji before their confrontation, the Fate of the World is altered. Years later, the last member of NERV must survive in a world without Evangelion.
1. Red Rain

Title: Safety

Warnings: AU, possibly OOC, timeline bending, graphic violence, slight shonen-ai, severe angst, author who hasn't seen the whole series, character deaths.

Rating: PG-13

Prologue – Red Rain

"You'd be better off dead."

The words struck Shinji head-on, leaving him staring blankly at the boy before him. Nagisa Kaworu stood a scant two feet in front of him, smiling – a warm smile-, which confused Shinji even more.

"You do, it would all be easier-for both of us- if you just died." After a moment, Shinji identified the emotion in Kaworu's voice as pity. It was not foreign to Shinji; most people tended to pity him, or look down upon him – Misato, his father, Asuka- but he had never expected to hear pity in his voice. Granted, he had known the silver-haired boy for a day at most, but Shinji felt different around Kaworu.

Safe.

He felt safe.

Until now. Now, with those striking crimson eyes leering into his, framed by violently silver hair, he felt much more afraid than he had ever been in his Eva. Shinji wasn't exactly sure how the shade of one's hair or eyes could be violent, but everything about Kaworu emitted an air of destruction.

Kaworu leaned forward, peering into Shinji's eyes, smiling at him again. For the life of him, Shinji could not understand that smile. It was too warm, too caring, too…affectionate, to be directed at him. And now Kaworu reached out, placing two fingers on the side of Shinji's neck.

Mouth opening and closing, Shinji finally found his voice. "Why do I de-deserve to…die?" Beginning as a whisper, his voice shattered, allowing his query to be heard.

"Because it will make it all so much easier. It will save you, Shinji. It will save me."

Shinji remained silent, acutely aware of the fingers on his neck. As he tried to calm his nerves he realized that Kaworu was, in fact, searching for a pulse. His pulse.

And he wanted to stop it.

Only then did it really sink in. Kaworu meant to kill him. He really meant to kill him. And as Shinji looked over him, he didn't note any weapons, concealed or obvious. That meant he'd die by Kaworu's bare hands.

Kaworu shook his head slightly as he noted the increase in Shinji's pulse, aware of how uncomfortable and frightened the other boy was. "It's ok," he whispered into Shinji's ear, his breath whistling over tanned skin, causing it to prickle, "nothing bad will happen."

"You promise?" The words were loud and clear, unlike the previous question. They startled Kaworu, and he found that Shinji was staring up at him, his eyes accusing in the way only a child's could be. But Shinji wasn't a child, not exactly. Children, Kaworu reflected, have childhoods. The Eva pilots most certainly didn't have childhoods, or so Kaworu had been lead to believe.

Shinji continued to stare into Kaworu's eyes, trying desperately not flinch as red clashed with gray-blue. "Do you promise?" He asked again, his tone more accusing, more bold. He was determined to make Kaworu back down, to frighten him. Unfortunately, his chances weren't high if he had to use all of his resolve to look the boy in the eye.

"I can't promise you that, Shinji."

"Why, why can't you?" Shinji had abandoned his angry, accusatory front and had dissolved into fright. He bit down on his lip, tears collecting at the corner s of his eyes, dripping down the sides of his face in single file. "You tell me I'm better off dead, and I know –I know what you're going to do," Shinji gasped through the now freely-spilling tears, " you're going to kill me right here, for some reason that makes no sense at all and then you're just going to walk away and do as you please, aren't you?"

"It's for both our goods. It'd save both us quite a bit of pain." The fingers moved from Shinji's neck to his face, allowing the tears to run over them, coursing down Kaworu's hand as it lifted into the space between the two."

"Killing me? How can dieing save me pain?" Shinji pulled back from Kaworu, stumbling backwards, rubbing a hand across his still-streaming eyes. "You have strange definition of pain, then" he sniffed, "if you want to kill someone to save them."

Kaworu's right index finger lifted his chin up, bringing them nearly nose-to-nose. "Would you rather live with the feeling of killing someone you cared about?"

"But-"

"Just answer me, Shinji."

" I-I don't really know. I mean, I can't even think of anyone, really. There's Rei, but I don't think I'll ever have to kill her. And Misato, but she's not that close to me."

"What about me?"

Shinji flushed, looking to the side in order to avoid Kaworu's gaze. "Why, why would I have to kill you?"

Kaworu ignored the question, turning Shinji's head so that they were facing once again. "You're better off not knowing," he murmured. Lifting Shinji's face up even as he moved his head downward slightly, Kaworu kissed him.

Kissed Shinji.

And that was really all that could be said. Anything else would just distort the feeling. Because Shinji had never been kissed, and, as Kaworu pulled his head back slowly, he remained frozen in a state of shock.

"That was," Shinji searched for the right word, "really nice…but, why? Why'd you do that?"

"Because," Kaworu paused, "I think I love you."

As Shinji gaped at him, the rain began to fall. At first is was gentle peppering, then the drops became more frequent and larger. And if either boy had looked up, they would have noticed that the sky, while covered with dark, ominous clouds, was also vaguely red. The dying sun was peeking out from between the clouds and the horizon, tinting the world a delicate crimson, which was quite fitting for the mood of the confrontation.

Kaworu viewed his following action as though it were an out-of-body experience. Half of him didn't really understand why he did it. Because when he had said he loved Shinji, he meant it. But he did not love the Lilum. He loved small things about them; their music, their art, and Shinji. But that which was born of Adam must return to Adam, and even Tabris, the Angel of Free Will, could not escape the seductive pull of destiny.

But he did it because he loved Shinji. He did it to spare him from the insane grief he knew would consume all that Shinji was. He knew Shinji was the one who was supposed to go after him. IT would save both of them, he decided.

Secure in this knowledge, he drew Shinji to him, arms wrapped around him. Wandering hands found a resting place on the back of Shinji's neck. And that was it.

A brief contraction and relaxation of his hand muscles.

A sickening crack.

And Ikari Shinji was dead.

And with him, any chance for the prevention of Third Impact.

If Kaworu had cared to notice, he would have seen that the sky was crying blood.


	2. Comatose

Disclaimer: Eva Not Mine

Author's Note: Thank you sooooo much to all my reviewers. I decided ot do those uber-cool special repsonses, so here we go.

Cyber-Undead :Well, here's what happens to Asuka, as for SEELE that is yet to be written.

vic: It would appear that I am continuing.

KK: Thank you:)

Evil Man: Uh...Thanks?

Ashmeara: Yup, everything's gotta be sad and morbid. XP

Nico-Chan: Here's your update!

Ok, with the crappy responses done, here is Chapter 1. This may be combined with a "Chapter 2", but for now just take this.

Chapter 1 – Comatose

Asuka Langley Sohryu could not see the desolation of Tokyo-3 and the surrounding area. She couldn't hear the screams of the innocents, or the sound of the Evas mobilizing. She didn't know that her own beloved Evangelion unit 02 was under the control of one Nagisa Kaworu, who was currently using it to crush Rei. The blue haired pilot was using all her abilities and more, but her strength was failing, and Kaworu was pressing his advantage. Her AT Field wavered as Kaworu's only strengthened, his power seemingly untapped.

But Asuka didn't see. She was immersed in her own universe, quite unaware that she was slipping into a coma. Her body remained rigid, frozen in shock by her failure. Even as the persistent hands of a NERV doctor shook her hard, then harder, she did not move, remaining rigid. The hands didn't stop; tightening in desperation, as Asuka refused to move. "Please, please wake up, Asuka-san." The grip tightened even more, all of the doctor's fear poured into this one action.

"Momma, I'm sorry. I failed, Momma." Blue eyes stared fixedly ahead, as though seeing something not quite there.

"Please save us, Asuka-san, we need your help."

"I'm so sorry, Momma. I'm so sorry." At those words the doctor's grip released, and she sank to the floor, resting on her knees. The woman began to sob freely into her hands, unaware that Major Katsuragi and Doctor Akagi were watching her through a small camera hanging in the corner.

"Why, why are you so special, you little bitch," she hissed, "that you can run around bragging about your skills and when we actually need you, you refuse to help us because you're too afraid. Why? Why?" Her voice rose and as she screamed the last word both Misato and Ritsuko turned from the screen and bowed their heads.

"Well, she's not going to do us any good," Misato sighed, looking to Ritsuko for help, ideas, condolences, anything. She wished Kaji were here. He always knew what to do when something like this happened; he would have been able to snap Asuka out of her shock. She gritted her teeth, remembering how obsessed Asuka was with Kaji, and wished that he were here just to see her broken. Misato had never told Kaji she loved him, but somewhere, deep down, she really did.

"Where's the Fourth Child?" Ritsuko's voice punctured Misato's inner wanderings.

"He never appeared, although he might still be alive."

"That doesn't help. We need him right here, right now." Ritsuko's voice, though it displayed no definite emotion, was sharp and biting, leaving no room for argument.

"I'm a tactician, not a babysitter!" Misato strode away from Ritsuko, intent on the battle between Rei and Kaworu. She had taken a leap of faith and had Rei pilot Eva 01 instead of 00, believing 01 to be better suited to the battle, as it was closer to Eva 02 in build. Much to her excitement, 01 hadn't rejected Rei and so she had gone off to confront the last Angel.

"Fine, I'll find out myself." Ritsuko left, though Misato was too focused on the all-too-obviously one-sided battle before her eyes. Rei was an exceptional pilot, no doubt there, but Kaworu was above and beyond her level. She wondered why she had even tried to confront Tabris, knowing that Shinji was the one supposed to battle him. Of course, when they found Shinji dead, the plans had to be altered.

"Goddammit, Asuka, wake up!" Her voice shook and she bit her lip till she drew blood, stopping any additional outbursts. Major Misato Katsuragi wasn't given to being overly emotional on the job, but watching their last chance being crushed was not the ordinary scenario. If they could just make Asuka wake up, they may have a chance. Misato turned her eyes to the screen showing the events in the hospital ward, praying that some miracle had occurred.

Naturally, one hadn't. The doctor was still kneeling by the rigid, almost comatose Eva pilot, and Asuka herself seemed not to have moved an inch. Except her lips, they were still forming words, which even the doctor had to strain her ears to catch.

"I failed. Pathetic. Weak. I can't pilot it again." Tears leaked out of Asuka's eyes, some falling on the woman kneeling beside her, though she did not blink as the salty droplets ran down her face. In her mind she could see continuous pictures flashing; her mother hanging by a rope in an empty room, her mother and father when she was very young, Kaji, her kissing Shinji, Shinji and Rei-Wondergirl- and her all in their Evas. It was funny, really. Here she was, lying in a hospital bed when she was the only one left who could protect the headquarters, the city, even the world. As her mental pictures frayed at the edges and began to fade, drifting off into a sea of red and gray, Asuka's eyelids lowered ceremoniously, stopping the tear flow.

The sudden cease in water dripping onto her head caused the doctor to look up, and to see something, which she would have rather never seen. The scanner had let out a small bip and much to the woman's horror a word flashed on the monitor in bold green computer lettering.

"COMATOSE."

The thin red line monitoring Asuka's brain activity was slowing down alarmingly, eventually settling into a slow, steady "bip. bip. bip."

The doctor rose hurriedly, removing an oxygen mask from the table next to Asuka and fitting it over her face. The plastic bubble obscured pale, drawn lips and a curved, somehow noble, nose. The other end of the long tube running from the bubble was attached to an oxygen tank sitting broodingly in the corner, glaring a neon grey in the sterile white of the room. And she stood there. She stood staring at the monitor, almost in shock, just as Asuka had been only minutes ago, although it somehow seemed like forever. The one word, eight green letters winking cheekily at her, seemed to bring all her hopes crashing down. Because hope was gone. Hope wasn't there anymore. Hope was-

"COMATOSE."

**-S.a.f.e.t.y-**

Sirens wailed in fear throughout NERV headquarters and Tokyo-3, screeching of death and misery to all who stayed. Unit 02 had one hand curled around the neck of Unit 01, and the other hand held its knife, gleaming wickedly.

Rei's screams echoed all the way to Terminal Dogma.


	3. Ore Sanguine Asperso

Disclaimer: Not mine. No sue. Sue bad.

A/N: Wow, it's the long awaited third installment of Safety. -cheers- I"m not particularly pleased with this one, though. It was a bitch to write. -sob- But my muse kept nibbling my ear 'till I wrote it. >> Good news is, I've finished the next part (the Interlude) and am planning the chapter after that. -cheers-

I am aware that the very beginning of this is the same as the end of the last chapter. That's me being stupid, sorry. 'Comatose' will be re-uploaded with the right ending when I feel like it. Which should be Thursday or Friday... Enough of me, onto the fic.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Ore Sanguine Asperso

Sirens wailed in fear throughout NERV headquarters and Tokyo-3, screeching of death and misery to all who stayed. Unit 02 had one hand curled around the neck of Unit 01, and the other hand held its prog knife, gleaming wickedly.

Rei's screams echoed all the way to Terminal Dogma.

And deep within NERV, Lilith stirred on her cross. The pale, flabby body could do no more than twitch, before becoming motionless again; though the many eyes continued to stare, waiting for something.

In the upper levels, Misato Katsuragi hung her head and gripped her cross tightly, waiting for the inevitable end. After all, there was no one left to save them. The First Child had gone to join the Third Child in a land far beyond. The Second Child lay comatose, the Fourth Child was most likely dead as well. And the Fifth Child hovered in the air above Unit 01 and its pilot, the sinister shadow of Unit 02 behind him.

Ritsuko had told her, of course. She knew who, or what, Kaworu Nagisa was and what he was meant to do. She had just never figured on this happening. On Rei failing, on Shinji dieing, on Asuka giving up so completely.

The cross was digging into her skin, drawing blood, but she paid it no mind. This was, after all, the end. The end. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Somehow, they had failed. Everything NERV, SEELE, the Akagis, Gendo, Asuka's mother, Yui, she herself, and her father (oh so many people) had done had been in vain. Adam may have failed fourteen years ago, but Tabris was exacting a terrible vengeance. The situation's black humour would normally have been appreciated by NERV's third-in-command, but today she knew that praying was the only thing she could do.

If an Angel killed you, could you still go to Heaven? That was the last though one Misato Katsuragi ever had, as she looked up through the viewing screen into the barrel of a beam cannon. She didn't scream, because she just wasn't that kind of woman. Ritsuko didn't either, though no one knew that. Maya Ibuki did, and Hyuga, who had smiled at Major Katsuragi earlier and said he would be happy to die with her, did too.

He probably wasn't happy, though. He wasn't the kind of person who wanted to die, no, not him. He was the kind of person to say things that sounded good and make up reasons for them later. He wasn't the sort of person who screamed usually, but this was a special instance, and no one noticed anyway.

Maya was that sort of person though. Maya screamed because she was frightened, because she was weak and afraid, oh so afraid, and because she was damnably human. Misato didn't scream because she understood, because she knew that this was Judgment Day. She and Ritsuko knew the truth about Kaworu Nagisa, and there was so much anger and loathing tempered with fear and self-control running through them that screaming was laughable, even then.

Saf.et.y

As the building crumbled around her, one medical assistant assigned to room 673 wheeled a bed haphazardly out the door, shoving it into an area that had not been damaged, before falling to the ground. Her head was bleeding, vermilion coating her almost white hair. She choked on the fluid running into her mouth and her nose from the massive head wound, but tried to call out one last time. 'Save us, Asuka!"

And Asuka drifted on, her mind confined within a cage it made for itself, still unawares of the death and destruction around her. She could not see falling rubble bury Shinji's still untouched body. She did not hear Rei screaming her humanity out in a final defiance to Tabris. And she did not see one Hikari Horaki struggling futilely to pull Kensuke's body from below a concrete pillar, wishing Toji were there and trying to pretend the Fourth Child wasn't dead.

Kaworu did not see Hikari either, and he didn't really care. NERV was destroyed, every one if its members incapacitated, and SEELE had been…dealt with. He chuckled to himself as he recalled their reactions upon seeing him there.

----

"_Tabris….but….the prophecy. The Scrolls."_

_He suppressed a chuckle as best he could. "Who was it who gave you that prophecy?" Red eyes smiling, his laugh never heard but felt around the room, no trace of malevolence showing._

"_We found them. They were written by man."_

"_And you honestly think the Lilum could accurately predict that much? Even the greatest mystics would have gone wrong before now." His laughter's deafening now, no Lilum could listen to it and emerge unscathed._

_They didn't want to answer him, he knew. They were afraid of Tabris. Not of Kaworu Nagisa, fourteen year old boy, but of Tabris, Angel of Free Will. But his eyes narrowed and he smiled broadly. _

"_All records point to the Archangel Gabriel. That is all we know."_

_This time he could not help but laugh. This time out loud. This time they could listen to it and not cringe. This was the laughter of Kaworu Nagisa, not the laughter of Tabris. "That explains it. The Archangel Gabriel, kind and wise above all others, does not have the best memory in heaven."_

_----_

That had ended it, he knew. And Kaworu Nagisa, or was it Tabris, smiled as he walked through the destroyed Tokyo-3. The Evas stood silently behind him, warped monuments to the final failure of mankind. He couldn't stop laughing, laughing as he walked over Shinji's impromptu grave. He couldn't help it. The laughter bubbled up choking him and prying his cold lips open even against his will. So Kaworu walked on, walked over the grave, never looking back. And he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, not noticing the flecks of blood it left behind.

**/Exeunt Chapter 2/**

* * *

Reviewer Responses (cause I"m the shiz):

**Nico-Chan**: Aww...sorry I killed Rei. She had to die. Of course Gendo cares, in his own...special way. -takes cookie- YAY COOKIE:DDD

**LilAngel12558**: Hahaaa -makes you cry- :P I feel mean.

**AnimeGirl622**: THANK YOU!

-ego overload-

Review, arigatou?


	4. Interlude: Antiphon

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, don't sue.

A/N: This Interlude is basically my way of skipping a huge chunk of time in which nothing really incredible happens. An antiphon is, some sort of religious refrain, I belive. It's all rather foggy. This one is written in the style of ancient Babylonian and Sumerian poetry, which means that it repeats-a lot. And I mean a lot. is screwing with my formatting, so the---s are stanza dividers, mmk? >>

---

**Interlude: Antiphon**

The final, bitter lament; no one is weeping

There can be no forgiveness in this graveyard of metal and stone

Singing the bitter lament to yourself-for yourself

Sing, sing, sing

The first song

_---_

A tune for her your sister in so many ways

Sing her a goodbye, an apology for never letting her know

Sing her lament; beautiful angel you killed without a thought

Her lament is the lament of Heaven, the lament you sing like you were born to

She could sing it with you if she were there –she is you in too many ways

Sing the lament to the you that could have been

Sing her a farewell, a hollow lamentation

Sing, sing, sing

The second song

---

A question sing for her the devil.

Sing for her the song of half-life, the song that may be

Sing her a pretty little future that cannot be

And laugh as you sing when you realize this will kill her

Sing her a lament of her own, for the flame that dies so fast -like her

Sing her lament of self-death

Know she is not you in any way- and sing to her for that

Sing, sing, sing

The third song

---

A song for yourself must also be sung

A song for you who sullied your wings and your halo with their blood

Blood that you do not, cannot, share even if you wished to

Sing to yourself, quiet lament for innocence and purity

Beating out the whiteness of your wings with your song

Singing this selfish lament for angels do not die-not like Lilum

Singing for you who were so alone, so much above them

Sing, sing, sing

The fourth song

---

Sing the funeral song, bitter lamentation for your lover

Sing his lament to him, under your feet, buried by you

Buried by you twice over, buried below his city

Sing him his lament and do not look back

Angels cannot, must not, should not change these things

Sing him to sleep, sing a sickly sweet lullaby for him

Sleeping below your feet-the last time you'll see him

Sing to him

Sing, sing, sing

The final song

---

Leave this city dead and bleeding below you

Still ringing with your lament, your swansong for him

For him, for him alone

Sing your exit from humanity; lament this destruction you caused of your own Free Will

Sing for your betrayal and your wickedness and sing for him you love(d) so much

Sing for the two of you and for none other, all you said before was lies.

He is smiling at you from the ground, you smile back.

Sing this swansong

Sing the final farewell

Sing, sing, sing

This first and final song

---

**Exeunt Interlude**

**---**

**Reviewer Responses**

**nick2951:** I think I'd prefer the compliment, but I hear Hell is nice this time of year. As for Kaworu's fate...well..that'd be a spoiler, ne?

**vic: **Yes, I am rather aiming for disturbing. Safety signifies..errr..safety. The idea of safety should play a larger role as the story progresses, if all goes well.

**Andy: **Yes, I'm also shooting for angsty. Thanks for pointing out the typo.

**CerdicofWessex: **Your review made my day, it really did. I'm flattered that you think this is that good. -blush- Since this is hopefully gonna be finished, I'll have to start guarding my brain. :P

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

((Review this too, mmk?))


	5. Tadaima

Disclaimer: Eva is not mine. How sad.

A/N: This is the longest chapter yet (which doesn't say much) and is the pivotal chapter. From here on out the tragical elements of the story will not be revolving around death and destruction, but on Asuka herself.

Also, this chapter is completely unbeta-ed, but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. . So, enough of my blathering.

---

)(Chapter 3- Tadaima)(

How long had she been falling? How long had she been lost in these sheets? If you were to ask Hikari Horaki, she would tell you in a worn, flat tone that it had been five years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours, eight minutes and thirteen seconds since Asuka has opened her eyes. Naturally, the hours and minutes and seconds are approximations, numbers she's pulled from thin air. But she knew the days and the months and the years. She _knew,_ oh she knew like no one else did anymore, knew this all by herself. It had been five years, six months, and fourteen days since she died. You see, Hikari didn't consider herself to be alive anymore. Oh no, she died trying to pull Kensuke from the rubble, died crying for Toji.

She was the last. Asuka didn't count, hadn't counted for five years, six months and fourteen days. She was the last survivor of Tokyo-3, the last living being to see Kaworu Nagisa laughing at their demise. It still gave her nightmares sometimes, and she wondered if she was channeling Rei or Shinji at those times because he was always stabbing her with the horrible knife or reaching up to break her neck or something like that and she woke up crying every time. She didn't just know whose dreams those were, except that he was always calling her Rei….or Shinji. And the way the Angel said Shinji's name made her spine tingle and her face flush and wish it were her name he was saying, but she would have never admitted to that.

Hikari pressed the back of her hand against Asuka's cheek, checking her temperature dutifully. To tell the truth, she was tired of being the one to take care of the comatose ex-Evangelion pilot. But the Council had decided that, as a childhood 'friend' of the other girl's, it was her duty. Duty, her foot. It wasn't so much duty as a distraction. The Council figured that if they let her supervise the only other Tokyo-3 refugee, then she would stay quiet. Quiet about what, she wasn't sure. Hikari just guessed that they assumed she knew something she didn't.

With a sigh she turned from the bedside, giving Asuka one last pitying look before the door slammed shut behind her. The hollow bip.bip.bip.bip echoed through the room, reverberating through Asuka's chest.

)(Saf.et.y)(

The wind whistled past her naked body in a harsh caress. Her hair fell in a sheet before her eyes as she plunged farther into the darkness. It was a warm, moist feeling, a world with no colors save the dusty red of her hair in front of her face. If she looked to the sides, as she sometimes did, she could see people. Some of them she didn't know, others she did,

There was Shinji his head down, always muttering, "Betrayed, betrayed, betrayed…" And Rei, naked as the day she was made, wings sprouting form her back. Asuka suspected that Rei could fly, but didn't know it. She saw Kaji drifting down, tried to reach out to him, but he only turned away. Misato and Ritsuko were arguing about something in their descent, gesturing violently and referencing figures Asuka had never heard of. Even Commander Ikari was there, with Yui, smiling for the first time Asuka could remember. She looked for her mother, searching for a glimpse of hair, listening for a voice screaming up from the abyss. Her mother had been a screamer, Asuka thought, but her daughter wasn't. Well, maybe, but she wasn't really a screamer. She didn't scream when frightened or when hurt or anything like that. No, no, no, no. Sure, she yelled and she hated others and she was so horrible to Shinji. But it didn't matter now, because no one talked here, no one even breathed, really.

Except her. She felt her chest rise and fall, felt the air whistle out of her lungs. It baffled her, as she watched other fall gracefully, more graceful than she, down this abyss. It felt like her limbs were struggling upwards of their own volition. The cooling wind on her flesh was replaced by a heavy, sultry feeling, warm and wet against her skin, filling her mouth. She struggled against the overwhelming darkness, tried to claw it out of her throat, bloodying herself with her nails. '_It is not that time for you, my dear. You still have suffering to bear._' The voice floated down to her, androgynous and soothing, despite its words. She released her throat and gave in to the overwhelming darkness.

)(Saf.et.y)(

And she woke. For the first time in five years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours, eight minutes and thirteen seconds Asuka Langley Sohryu opened her eyes and saw the world. It was white. The ceiling, the first thing to enter her field of vision, was white, or had been white. The walls were the same way; faded and discoloured with age. The sheets, however, were a crisp and starchy kind of white, so completely devoid of color that for a moment Asuka thought she was still _there_, or that she had passed beyond some new and mysterious veil to a second, maybe even third, otherworld. However one look at the obviously outdated medical equipment beside her was enough to tell her that she was most definitely in the 'world', the world that she only barely remembered as a place of blood and fear and failure. Needles were jammed into her disgustingly pale, blue-veined arms, injecting her with the fluids necessary to life. The ex-Eva pilot tried to pry the metal form her flesh, but five years of no movement had caused her muscles to atrophy, and in the end, it was too much work for her.

The heart rate monitor beside her was in a bit of a frenzy, having, for five years, beat a steady bip.bip.bip. It was now forced to register the biiip.bipbipbip.bipbip. of Asuka's erratic heartbeat as she tried to calm down and became frantic in turns. After her initial shock at waking up and seeing a world she thought she had forgotten, Asuka's eyelids began to droop heavily. She fought to stay awake, however, digging into her palms with as much force as her weakened body could muster. It wasn't much, but the tingling sensation kept her awake until the nurse on duty made her customary stop by Asuka's room. The red-haired girl didn't actually know of the nurse's existence, but she guessed that someone must check on her occasionally. When the nurse opened the door, ready to give the prone body a quick check-over and to check the IVs, she was faced with the sight of the previously comatose patient struggling to prop herself up against the wall. Immediately, the nurse flew to Asuka's side, aiding her efforts.

Once Asuka was comfortable, and the IVs had been replenished, the nurse scurried off to find her superior. He'd be interested to know that the comatose Evangelion pilot had mysteriously awoken five years after entering her coma. Maybe, she thought to herself, all that cock-and-bull about Angels really was true.

Meanwhile, Asuka was bored out of her mind. All she could do was watch the IVs deposit fluids into her system. Drip. Drip. Drip. The liquid into her veins, she could almost feel it. She had been thinking about the otherworld, the void that was filled with the people she knew. Everyone from NERV was there, and she wondered if it had been some sort of dream of hers, filled with the people she saw everyday. Those thoughts were rising up again, taking her attention from the needles.

Until the door reopened and three people began to speak simultaneously. The nurse began to recount her tale of discovery, the doctor rushed to her side and began to fire questions at her, and the third person's voice could barely be heard. When the doctor had received Asuka's halfway coherent answers and the nurse was done elaborating on her adventures, their companion spoke again. Asuka realized she recognized the speaker, though five years had certainly changed her face.

"Okaeri, Asuka-san."

Asuka struggled with the Japanese, trying to sort through her brain. Finally, it came to her. "I am...aren't I?" Her laugh was weak and more like a cough or shortness of breath. "I'm home, I'm home." The proper Japanese phrase came to her. "Tadaima, Hikari-san, Tadaima."

)(Exeunt Chapter 3)(

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Reviwer Responses:

**Jashin:** Well, Shinji's stone dead, so I doubt he'll be killing Kaworu any time soon. Kaworu's fate will remain a secret for some time, just because I'm evil.

**AnimeGirl622: **Yay! Hopefully, the disturbingness will continue, albeit in a slightly different way. Asuka's reaction here was fairly lackluster, I fear, but as she regains her strength it should get more interesing.

Make my day. Leave a review. (Puh-leaaaase?)


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